Sakura let out a long sigh, removing her mask as she approached the room with Sasuke in it. The hospital had been overrun with flu cases and it was nice to just have a regular physical. It had been unseasonably warm for March, and Sakura felt like she was suffocating in the mask.
"Good afternoon, Sasuke," Sakura greeted, opening the door. She froze when she noticed he was shirtless. It was not a requirement for men to remove their shirts during regular physicals. "What happened to your shirt?"
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, furrowing his brow.
"I mean why aren't you wearing one?" Sakura asked, subtly appreciating the view as she moved to the sink to wash her hands.
"The nurse told me I needed to undress from the waist up…" Sasuke explained, sounding slightly confused. Sakura sucked in her lips, trying not to laugh. When she turned back to face him, sitting on the stool, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her obvious amusement.
"She just wanted to see you shirtless, Sasuke," Sakura chuckled. "If you had let me do this at home like I suggested, maybe you wouldn't have been sexually harassed."
"I told you, if people from work didn't see me physically leave to get this done, they would have thought I was cutting corners and tried to do the same," Sasuke sighed leaning back against the wall with crossed arms and closing his eyes.
"You can put your shirt back on if you want to," Sakura said idly, sitting on the short stool and flipping through his chart.
Sasuke shrugged lightly. "It's fine. I've been hot all day."
Sakura chuckled at this. The police force uniform was like the Jonin uniforms: long sleeved. Thinking back on his previous wardrobe through the years, she knew he preferred short sleeves. Even now, if he was in uniform, his sleeves were always pushed up. "You could approve a summer uniform, you know. As Police Chief you have that kind of authority." Sakura flipped his chart to the third page and read over the questions. "Alright let's get started. Any known allergies?"
"No," Sasuke said, arms still crossed, eyes still closed.
"Are you on any medications currently?"
"No."
"Are you married?"
Sasuke peaked one eye open in a look that said "Really?"
"You're the one who didn't want to cut corners. I'm just a regular doctor and you are just a regular patient."
Sasuke readjusted on the table but remained slouched against the wall. "No."
"Are you sexually active?"
"No."
"Oh, the nurses will be thrilled to see that when they peek at your chart later," Sakura chuckled. She could tell he was getting irritated by her questions. "Any known STDs?"
"Sakura, what's the point of filling that out before I come in if you're just going to ask me all the same questions?"
"Because we like to make you feel as uncomfortable as we can during these appointments. So, any known STDs?"
"No," Sasuke ground out.
"Oh they'll be even more thrilled to see that."
Sasuke let out a long sigh.
"Okay okay, I'll spare you the rest." Sakura said standing up. She applied some hand sanitizer to her hands and moved towards him. "This is going to be a little cold since you decided to give the nurse a strip tease…"
Sasuke pushed off the wall and uncrossed his arms. Sakura placed the stethoscope on his chest.
"Just breathe normally for now. Good. Now two deep breaths. I'm going to check your ears now. Good. Now your eyes."
Sakura placed her hands on either side of his temples. "Activate the Sharingan for me. Good. Deactivate it. Good." Sakura placed her hands behind Sasuke's ears and began checking her way down his neck to his collarbone. When she finished she noticed he had chill bumps. "You can put your shirt back on if you're cold," she said offhandedly, jotting down notes on his chart.
"I'm not," Sasuke said simply.
"I need you to go through the twelve basic seals for me," Sakura said, turning back around. "And don't go fast just to show off. I'm assessing that you can do all of them, and I can't do that if I can't see them."
Sasuke smirked in response, but performed all twelve without any issues. A little slower than she felt was strictly necessary.
"Good. Now flare your chakra for me." He did. "Okay, now I'm going to flow my chakra through yours to check for any blockages and make sure everything is flowing like it's supposed to."
Sasuke nodded in response. Sakura lifted her hands to perform the check, but froze briefly. Normally she put her hands on people's chests for this part, but usually they were fully clothed, and usually they weren't Sasuke. Sakura mentally shook herself before placing her hands lightly on his chest and performing the check.
He really was warm.
As her chakra flowed through his pathways, Sasuke's flowed with it and curled around it pleasantly. When she started to withdraw hers from the check, his chakra clung to it, as if asking it to stay.
That was… different.
"What?" Sasuke asked, noticing the look on her face.
"Nothing," Sakura said, shaking her head. "Your chakra just reacted strangely, that's all. I'm going to massage your arm now to stimulate blood flow and check for any lumps." She moved her hands to his left shoulder and began massaging the prosthetic arm.
"Strange how?" Sasuke asked, cocking an eyebrow at her, not letting her avoid telling him about his chakra.
"Well, it's normal for someone's chakra to react negatively to a foreign chakra in their network. More often than not, I have to fight against someone's chakra while performing that check."
"But not always."
"No, not always." Naruto's chakra usually gets excited to see mine and jumps and spikes while almost dragging mine along. Occasionally, Kurama's gets jealous and chases me out. Kakashi's usually pulses around mine in greeting, but hurries it along. Ino's slows mine down as if it wants to stay and chat." She massaged her way down his bicep and noticed he had chill bumps again "You don't have to pretend you aren't cold, you can put your shirt on, Sasuke," Sakura chuckled.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm not cold, it just feels good, Sakura."
"Oh," Sakura said, unsure what else to say.
"So you're saying you can tell how someone feels about you based on how their chakra reacts?" Sasuke asked after a moment, his brow furrowed.
"No, not necessarily," Sakura said absentmindedly, making her way down to his forearm with her massage. The subject had always fascinated her, but she'd never really talked about it with anyone other than Tsunade, and she hadn't been as interested as Sakura was. "It's more like I can gauge how much they instinctively trust me I guess? The last time I performed your physical was before you left, and your chakra avoided touching mine and rushed me through kind of like Kakashi's does. This time it… Didn't," Sakura finished lamely, her hands pausing in his palm. She wasn't entirely sure why she was so hesitant to tell him. Maybe she was afraid he would pull away, or tell her not to read too far into it. It was, after all, just a sign that he trusted her and nothing more.
Wasn't it?
Sasuke enveloped his hand around one of hers and brought it back to his chest. "Show me," he said simply.
Sakura shook her head pulling her hand out of his. She turned to make a note in his chart, fighting the blush on her cheeks. "I can't. As soon as you focus on it, your chakra stops behaving how it would subconsciously. I've tried with Tsunade a few times. We're all done. Just make sure you stop at the lab to get your blood work done."
Sasuke's eyebrows were furrowed in thought when she turned back. He lifted a hand and put it back on the table, seeming unsure.
"What?" Sakura asked.
After a moment of hesitation, he raised his hand again. "Can I try?"
Sakura could feel her face heating. Even though she had told him it was only to see how much you instinctively trusted someone, she wasn't sure if that's really all it was. It felt deeply personal, and she wasn't sure she wanted Sasuke to know how her chakra would react with his. She was sure it would be embarrassing. Still, she found herself saying, "Okay."
Sakura stood in front of him again. Sasuke raised his hand slowly and gently placed it on her collarbone. He closed his eyes as he pulsed his chakra through hers. She resisted her desire to follow what he was doing and just let it happen, nervous about what her chakra would do with his.
After what felt like the longest thirty seconds of her life, Sasuke slowly blinked his eyes open. He stared at his hand, his thumb brushing idly on her collarbone. He almost seemed dazed.
"Well?" Sakura asked quietly, almost afraid of his answer.
Sasuke blinked and his gaze flicked up to hers. The look on his face was inscrutable. He pulled his hand back, but didn't say anything. He reached for his shirt and pulled it back on, pushing the sleeves up.
"You're not going to tell me?" Sakura asked as Sasuke stood up, towering over her. Sakura looked down at her feet, suddenly scared that he was upset with whatever her chakra had done.
Sasuke poking her forehead pulled her out of her spiraling thoughts. Sakura looked up at him, rubbing at her forehead. She caught a flash of something almost like tenderness on his face before it morphed into smirk, and he flash stepped out of the room.
She was dying.
Her throat felt like it had been rubbed raw with sandpaper every time she swallowed. She couldn't breathe through her nose. Even as she laid on her stomach, every bone in her body hurt. The fever was making her shiver uncontrollably, but she resisted the urge to put more layers on, trying to let it just run its course.
Right after her appointment with Sasuke, Sakura had gone to the room of an eight year old girl with the flu. The way Sasuke's chakra had reacted to hers, and wondering how hers had reacted to his had consumed her thoughts on her way to the girl's room. Sakura had been so distracted that she had forgotten to put her mask back on, and the girl had sneezed right in her face in greeting.
Sakura was two things when she was sick: whiny and weepy. It was as if she reverted back to a child when she had a fever. It took all of her self control to not just heal the illness away with chakra, but she knew it was bad for her immune system to synthetically heal common illnesses like the flu. She could suppress the symptoms like medicine would, but anything else had bad long term effects on her immune system and her body's natural ability to heal. It would forget how to naturally fight viruses making her more susceptible to catching everything in the hospital, and less equipped to fight off the viruses.
Eventually her body would become addicted to the healing chakra.
Childish as it was, Sakura had sent her mother a message early that morning asking her for some of her miso soup - and maybe just her presence in general.. She was more upset than she would care to admit when her mother sent an answer saying she was still on an anniversary trip with Kizashi. The note assured Sakura she would be home tomorrow and would come check on her as soon as she got back.
Tomorrow was a long way away. Sakura really hadn't been sick since moving out of her parents' house, so this was her first time facing the flu on her own. Her fever-addled brain conjured up an image of Sasuke caring for her through this, but she had to admit, her fantasies of taking care of him while he was sick were much more desirable than this misery. Besides, she couldn't actually imagine asking Sasuke for help, much less him giving her help.
Perhaps that was selling him short, though. He may help if she asked. But, as it was, she couldn't bear to get out of her bed. She was doomed to stay here and die alone.
Staring blankly at the sheets on her bed, Sakura heard footsteps barreling up the stairs.
"Nurse Uzumaki has arrived!" Naruto called, slamming her door open. It banged against the wall. Sakura flinched at the noise. Her head was pounding already. Why did Naruto have to be so loud?
"Don't worry, Sakura! Mama Mebuki sent a message with directions on how to properly take care of you while you're sick!"
"Naruto, please… You don't need to shout…" Sakura mumbled into her pillow.
"Eh? Shouting? I'm not shouting!" Sakura groaned. Absolutely everything in her body hurt. Even the weight of her blanket was making her sore. She couldn't remember a time she had felt so wretched.
Her bed sank down under Naruto's weight. "Mama Mebuki said you like 'physical reassurances' while you're sick," Naruto said, slouching against her headboard and holding his arms out to her. "Which basically just means I have an excuse to snuggle with you all day!"
"Naruto, don't," Sakura said. "You'll get sick too. And trust me, you don't want this."
"Like Kurama would let me catch some common cold," Naruto chuckled. Sakura couldn't even find the strength to assure him that this was not just a common cold. "Now, what Mama Mebuki wants, Mama Mebuki gets. They're on some anniversary trip and don't get back until tomorrow, so she sent me in her place while you wait."
Sakura opened her mouth to ask him why on earth her mother would have entrusted her in his care, but Naruto was still talking. "Okay, so the note was actually addressed to Sasuke, but he's at work. Was I just supposed to leave you to die until he got home? I don't think so."
That made more sense. It was no secret that her mother trusted Sasuke with her well-being more than Naruto. Sakura had a sneaking suspicion Sakura's feelings for Sasuke were the main reason Mebuki decided to address the note solely to Sasuke though.
"Now, her instructions state," Naruto pulled a very thick, crumpled up scroll out of his pocket. "'Sakura has always found comfort in physical touch. So, while she's sick, physical assurances can help her more than medicine, but don't get carried away-' I assume that's a note for Sasuke, not me. I would never get carried away with you."
Sakura blushed. If she were feeling more like herself, she'd be angry at her mother for writing that to Sasuke.
"'A head and lymphatic drainage massage work wonders for her. You've always been so smart, so I assume you know how to do that-' again, that must be for Sasuke. I have no clue how to do that, but Hinata says it feels nice when I play with her hair, so I'll do that! Anyway, '-she sleeps best while sick when cuddled with someone. I know that will be such a sacrifice for you-' she drew something there. I think it's supposed to be a winky face."
Sakura was well and truly mortified now even through the haze of her fever. "My mother wrote that to Sasuke?" she squeaked.
"Yeah," Naruto giggled. "I can't wait to see how red his neck gets when he reads this!"
"Naruto," Sakura reached up to grab his collar and yank his face closer to hers, trying to convey the seriousness of her next words. This took every last bit of strength she had left. "You can't let Sasuke read that."
"Why not? It's his letter. It's a criminal offense to dispose of someone else's mail, and I am no criminal." Naruto put his arm around Sakura and pulled her to his chest, his left arm wrapped around her. Sakura let out a sigh of relief. Naruto was so warm and her fever was making her so cold. This was definitely the most comfortable she had felt since the onset of her fever in the middle of the night.
But then his right hand began raking painfully through her hair.
Hinata was a really good liar.
"Naruto, that hurts…" Sakura whined, tensing under the abuse.
"Nonsense, you must just be sensitive from the fever. Hinata says I give incomparable head rubs."
"Then Hinata must be a masochist." But Sakura noted the careful wording Hinata had used to describe Naruto's head rub. "Be gentle, Naruto, you're not trying to scalp me."
Naruto grumbled, but heeded her request. He rubbed her head much more gently, but still too hard. "Maybe just nix the head rub part?"
Naruto huffed at this while she snuggled into his chest. "I won't mind if you get drool or snot all over me. You just let Nurse Uzumaki take care of you."
Sakura's eyes began to fill with tears. Even from afar and at nearly twenty years old, her mother was taking care of her. Something she knew to be a blessing not everyone had. Soon, Sakura drifted comfortably to sleep for the first time all day, grateful for her little family.
Sakura woke up and the first thing she noticed was she no longer felt like her head was splitting in half. Embarrassing as the letter was, her mother was right. She did always sleep much better when being held by someone while she was sick. She had her arms wrapped around Naruto's torso, her head resting just below his chest. Naruto's hand was rubbing at her head again. She had to have been asleep for more than a few hours, judging by the color of the sky outside her windows. Honestly, she was surprised he hadn't fallen asleep with her.
In the unknown time she had been asleep, Naruto seemed to have improved greatly. It no longer felt like he was trying to break her skull in half. He was managing to massage at all the right pressure points and lymph nodes. His fingers pressed pleasantly between her eyebrows and dragged over her right eyebrow, down to her ear, her jaw, and then to her neck.
Maybe Naruto had found one of her textbooks on the benefits of massage? He was always a fast learner when he wanted to be, and he had been taking his assigned -stolen- job from her mother very seriously. It didn't really matter. She didn't have a pounding headache for the first time all day, and that's what mattered. Sakura let out a contented hum and burrowed her face further into him. Naruto paused briefly at the movement, but continued his gentle massaging on her head.
Her door snicked open quietly. "I'm back from the meeting," Naruto whispered quietly from the door. Well, quietly for Naruto. She appreciated the effort he was putting in, at least. "I forgot the list, so I still need to go to the store. You good here?"
Wait. What?
If Naruto was at her bedroom door, then that meant she was snuggled on her bed with…
"Aa," Sasuke's chest rumbled under her ear.
Sakura tensed. Snuggling with Naruto and humming at his head massage was wildly different than when it was Sasuke. Suddenly, it all felt extremely embarrassing. Did this mean he had read her mother's letter? She could never face him again if he had.
She felt Sasuke's chest move, as if laughing quietly at her sudden discomfort.
"I'll be right back," Naruto called, closing the door back quietly.
She snuck a look up at Sasuke then. He was reading a scroll in his right hand. He didn't seem at all bothered or uncomfortable with their current situation. Sakura felt the total opposite. She was very bothered and uncomfortable with their current situation. Especially now that he knew she was awake. It really was in her best interest if she got off of him.
Or just let this flu kill her.
Sakura moved to untangle herself, but Sasuke stilled her with light pressure on her shoulder. "Sleep, Sakura," Sasuke whispered, his thumb rubbing idly at her shoulder. She peeked back up at him. He was still reading the scroll, not looking at her.
Sakura closed her eyes with a huff, but made no move to get off of him again. Pushing aside her embarrassment, she decided to enjoy this while she could. However, she didn't want to make it too obvious, so she loosened her hold on him. If it were possible, she'd swear she heard him roll his eyes.
"Wakey wakey," a warm hand shook her shoulder. Sakura jolted awake. Something wet was pooled on her cheek. Had she been drooling?! On Sasuke!? She sat up, horrified and wiping at her mouth. She was surprised to see she had been laying on Naruto again, and felt less mortified. Just how deeply had she been sleeping that they switched places on her twice without her noticing?
Naruto laughed at her. "Don't worry, I won't tell Sasuke you drool," he grinned at her conspiratorially, wiggling his eyebrows. "That's for him to find out on his own…"
Sakura rolled her eyes at him, the motion reminding her that everything in her body ached, including her eyes. She flopped back down on her pillows with a sound that rivaled a dying animal.
"Sasuke said the Miso soup is ready. I was just going to let you keep sleeping, but he said you've been sleeping all day and should probably eat something," Naruto rambled on. "Mama Mebuki's letter didn't really tell me what to do if you hadn't eaten anything all day, so I had to defer to his judgment. I've never really taken care of anyone or been taken care of while sick, not that I've ever been sick other than some mild food poisoning, and Sasuke has so I just figured he'd know better, but if you want to sleep then-"
"Naruto, please," Sakura whimpered. "Less words."
"You call this waking her up?" Sasuke said walking into the room with two steaming bowls in his hands.
"I was working on it," Naruto said, crossing his arms in a pout.
"Sakura, sit up, you need to eat," Sasuke said. Though his words were a command, he spoke them gently.
Sakura let out a whine as she sat up. She held out her hands for one of the bowls Sasuke held. The warmth of it felt good on her aching fingers. "Is this Miso…?"
"Aa," Sasuke replied.
"Mama Mebuki sent us her recipe!" Sakura felt herself tearing up as Naruto reached for the other bowl in Sasuke's hand. "Thanks, Sasuke."
"Are you sick?" Sasuke asked, pulling the bowl out of Naruto's reach. "This one's mine. Go get your own."
Sasuke settled into Sakura's desk chair while Naruto got off the bed grumbling about Sasuke the whole way.
"Did you make this?" Sakura asked in the quiet, her eyes still welling up with tears.
"Aa," Sasuke said, blowing on his bowl.
"Thank you," Sakura said, her lip beginning to quiver. Sasuke stalled his movements.
"Are… You okay…?"
She let out a loud sniff. "You've both just been so kind to me. I don't deserve you."
Sasuke continued to stare at her. He raised an eyebrow at her as a slow smirk spread over his face. His attention going back to his bowl of soup, he said, "Hn, your mom was right. You do get overly emotional while you're sick."
"You read the letter!"
The next day found Naruto laid out in her bed with a fever of his own. Apparently Kurama had decided to let Naruto get sick. She was in the middle of the bed, as close as Naruto would allow. During her first attempt to snuggle against Naruto after he joined her on the bed, he had informed her he very much so did not appreciate being touched while he was sick.
"Can't you see I'm dying? It hurts to even breathe, much less bear the weight of your arm!" His left arm was flung on the pillows above her head, and his legs sprawled wide.
Her door clicked open, and Sakura watched her mother enter, wearing a face mask. Kizashi came in behind Mebuki, similarly covered, towing a half-conscious and disgruntled Sasuke with him. "I was wondering where you were," Mebuki laughed at Naruto sprawled out on Sakura's bed. "Seems like I need to take care of all three of you now."
"Mama Mebukiiiiiiiii," Naruto cried, openly weeping at the sight of her mother. "I don't feel so good."
Sasuke let out a loud snort at Naruto's reaction that turned into a hacking cough.
"Serves you right, you jerk," Naruto sobbed.
"Found this one nearly passed out trying to put his shoes on," Kizashi said, guiding Sasuke to the otherside of Sakura on the bed.
"Sasuke, is your shirt inside out?" Sakura whispered as Sasuke flopped beside her. He let out a disgruntled groan, but otherwise made no comment.
"I'm going to sequester you all in here," Mebuki announced, slapping cold washcloths on all of their heads. "Might as well keep the germs isolated. We'll be downstairs scrubbing the germs out of your house. If you need us, just shout. I'll bring breakfast up in a bit."
Sakura heard the door close again. Sasuke rolled onto his right side and curled up like he did when they were Genin. Sakura reached above her head and grabbed Naruto's hand. She extended her other hand towards Sasuke and grabbed one of his. She gave both of their hands a squeeze. Both gave her a gentle squeeze back, but Naruto quickly extricated his hand from hers, still not appreciating being touched.
Sakura closed her eyes and waited for sleep to claim her. Naruto's quiet snores filled the silence. She could hear birds chirping outside. The back door slid open and she heard her father whistling, punctuated by quiet thumps as he shook out a rug. His voice rumbled something and she heard her mother's tinkling laugh in response.
Keeping her eyes shut, Sakura rolled to her side to face Sasuke, keeping her hand wrapped loosely with his. She felt Sasuke shifting and was surprised when his forehead met hers.
Maybe being sick wasn't so bad after all...